The gang on Halloween. Calvin opted out of Trick or Treating this year.
The girls chose to be “good witches,” while Nevin was a soldier as he had been at the Harvest Party a few weeks earlier.
Here are the “good witches.” Evangeline assembled both costumes. She’s a great big sister!
Nevin misplaced his pit helmet, so his soldier outfit was a bit incomplete. He managed to collect some candy nonetheless!
Today, our Nevin turns 11! Happy Birthday.
In a family with 4 children, it is often hard to pinpoint a “middle child.” But, in our family, Nevin was #2 of 3 for 4 years, so the monaker of “middle child” definitely falls to him. So to ward off a little of that “the middle child is always forgotten syndrome,” I am offering a mini-tribute to our 11-year-old middle child–Nevin. (Please note, being the middle child means there are very few photos of you alone.)
Nevin at around 1. Cute little guy.
Nevin & Calvin right after a bath. Nevin was probably about 9 months old, which means Calvin was just over 2.
The whole family in 1999 at our church near Seattle, WA.
Nevin & Calvin, circa 2001, in Minco, OK.
Nevin with Granddaddy at the St Louis Zoo, 2005.
Nevin at this year’s harvest party.
Nevin is a sweet-natured kid who loves to read, play computer games, and has recently acquired a taste for old A-Team episodes that are posted on the internet. He also likes to sing, to do strange dance moves that often embarass his older brother, and he enjoys operatic music.
We love him a lot, and we’re thankful for all the great and fun qualities he brings to our family. Thank you, Lord, for Nev.
Many of you know that our Charis fell on the black top near the playground at recess about 2 weeks ago. This past Sunday was the first time I had the opportunity to take a picture of her with the cast. This was taken at our church’s annual Harvest Party:
As you can see, she’s pretty happy with life despite the large pink cast. After having the bone set and the cast put on, she has barely missed a beat. She did say to her teacher last week, “I don’t know how all those misquitoes are getting into my cast.”
This is the second year we have had children enrolled at a small Christian school in south St. Louis County. It is like lots of other Christian schools with small classes, loving teachers, strong academics, and sweet students. However, it is unique because the church that hosts the school donates the building, and even maintenance and utilities to the school to keep their overhead very low. The church sees this as a ministry to the community, and I can testify that it is a ministry to our family. We are very blessed to have our children surrounded by other believers each day as they study and learn academics as well as what it means to be a Christian in today’s culture.
All tuition at this school goes to paying for school materials (textbooks, etc) and teacher salaries. The school is also very committed to making Christian education accessible to families of all economic backgrounds. They have a generous multi-child discount, which makes it possible for several families with multiple children to keep them in a Christian educational environment.
The school has very few fundraisers compared to other schools. As a parent, I am very thankful for this. However, each fall the school has its primary fundraiser, a walk-a-thon, where parents, friends, and family sponsor the children to walk to raise money to help allow the school to keep its tuition low and its academics and Christian testimony strong. The children do not take donations for number of laps walked, but they take lump-sum donations for completing the event.
This year’s fall walk-a-thon is scheduled for October 31, and the school’s goal is to raise $40,000.00 through this event. They would like to see each student raise $350. With 4 kids at the school, that makes our family expectation $1,300.00. If we were able, we would just hand over the $1,300.00. But we’re not. So, I am asking anyone who stops by my blog to consider donating to this cause. If you would like to donate, you can e-mail me at mjathornesdotorg for instructions of how to get your donation into the right hands. If you are interested in giving but would like to know more details about the school, e-mail me so I can answer you privately. Any donations we receive through my blog will be divided up among my 4 children so they receive “credit” for the funds raised.
You can also donate through paypal if you like. I tried putting a donate button up here, but it didn’t work. So if you want to use paypal, shoot me an e-mail, too.
Perhaps you remember this post from a little over a year ago.
So it has been just over a year since Simon joined our household. He has adpated well to the craziness of living with us. The children still bemoan the fact that he feels he must sit as close to me as possible when we are just hanging around the house, but they have gotten used to it. I think Simon thinks he is just another one of the kids–the most special one who must always be by Mommy. He and Charis have had their tossels as they both jockey for position. In the end, though, I think Simon has learned that he is #5 in the pecking order of children (the rest come in no particular order of course, ahem . . .)
So raise your coffee cup to our first year with Simon. He has been a happy (albeit sometimes smelly) addition to the family.
So I was doing pretty well there with regular blog posts. What happened? What always does–life.
Mark has been crazy busy with work projects. One has a quick turnaround deadline, and it is sort of speculative. So pray he gets it done, and pray the $$ comes through.
Then there’s been all the kids’ stuff. The girls are taking swimming lessons; Nevin is taking wrestling; and Calvin only made it on the waiting list for fencing, but he’ll get in the next session in a month or so. Awana started for the the 3 younger ones three weeks ago, too. And, Evangeline has been to the dentist twice in the past 2 weeks. She had a toothache that turned out to be an abcessed tooth. She had to have it pulled, and she was very brave about it all. Then we took her back the following week for a cleaning and x-rays. It turns out she has 2 more cavities that will need to be filled. Oh, and the dentist informed me that we need to see an orthodontist. Yay! We have expected this with Nevin, but we were crossing our fingers that he would be the only one.
So in the midst of the nation’s economic crisis, life goes on. Nevin asked me today what we would do if the economic system collapsed. I told him we would be ok because we have practice with economic crisis. He laughed at my little joke, which I guess is a good thing since he understood what I was getting at, and yet it didn’t make him unhappy. (I also added that we would trust God and work for a solution, btw. )
This–the dryer staining and chewing holes in the clothes when they get stuck between the barrel and outer casing.
That–the water heater not heating as it should.
The other thing–life getting busy and making time to meet the dryer repair guy and the water heater repair guy.
When the first repair guy showed up today, I showed him a pair of underwear with a black stain and a hole in it where the dryer had taken a bite out of it. He looked at me like I was crazy. Then he said, “I’m here for the water heater.” Ok. I got a little confused. I chuckle to myself every time I think of it.
The dryer guy comes tomorrow morning, by the way.
To work or not to work, that is the question.
We have been thinking that my getting a job could be a help to our situation. So on Friday, I had an “interview” for a temp-perm bookkeeping job that is part-time. I am slated to start on Tuesday.
Benefits:
More income
18 hours a week, home when the kids are home from school
Only 4 miles from our house.
Still able to fit in at-home part-time job
Negatives
More juggling when emergencies arise (ie, picking up a sick kid at school).
Child care issues when school is out for the day (you know, those staff in-services days)
Harder to keep up with things at home.
To complicate things further, after accepting this job, I received a call to interview for a full-time job that I think I would really enjoy. Plus, though it is full-time, I might be able to negotiate some time flexibility because the company is not offering any benefits with the job.
Right now, I am planning to start the part-time job and interview for the other one on Wednesday. But I am praying for wisdom. There are lots of good reasons for me to be more available to my kids, so I might be leaning toward forgetting the full-time option. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could see the future so we could know which choices are the best ones?
“Hey Mom, what are we having for dinner?” Nevin asked.
“Jennifer’s Mexicali casserole.”
“Oh.” (Eyes rolling.)
So, here’s last night’s dinner creation. Despite the disappointment and eye rolling that came before it, everyone liked it.
Jennifer’s Mexicali Casserole
1 pound ground beef or turkey
1 t. cumin
1 t onion powder
6 – 8 10 inch tortillas cut into strips
2 cans diced tomatoes (use the ones with chillis in them if you like things hotter.)
1/2 cup salsa
1 12 oz can of refried beans
1/2 C sour cream
1 C shredded cheddar
Brown the ground meat, adding the onion powder and cumin as you are cooking (you could also use taco seasoning).
Drain meat and put aside.
Mix together tomatoes and salsa; put aside.
Mix together refried beans and sour cream.
Layer ingredients in a slightly greased 9 1/2 X 11 pan in the following order:
tomato mixture, tortilla strips, bean mixture, meat, 1/2 c. cheese – repeat.
Bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. You may want to cover the pan with foil for the first 20 minutes and take it off for the last 10. I was out of foil, so I just baked it without and it turned out fine.
Serve w/dollop of sour cream, tortilla chips and dip, and fruit.
Makesabout 12 servings.
Today is the first day of school. Charis, number 4 and our youngest, started Kindergarten this morning. I felt a little bit of tears welling up as I left her room, but mostly I was excited for her. She is very ready to go to school with the big kids.
After settling everyone in their various places around the school, I headed to the gym to sign up for volunteering for the year. I talked with a few parents I know, and then headed out to leave. Upon searching my purse, I couldn’t find my keys. I looked in the van, and they were hanging from the ignition. I guess all the excitement of getting all 4 kids and all their stuff out was too much for me to grab my keys before locking the door. Guess what, after nearly 20 minutes on hold, I found out that I hadn’t signed up for roadside assistance with my cell phone provider. (I have, btw, now 🙂 So a few more minutes and $35 later with the help of the car repair place that we should own stock in, I was able to depart the school parking lot.
Now, on to some photos:
